Certainly the greatest thing to come out of Harlem since the Globe Trotters . It's a shame they never let him fight for a title, he could have rolled up the best of them
I think Jack McVey preceded the Globetrotters since he started fighting in 1920 and the Globetrotters were formed in 1926. And the Globetrotters didn't even come out of Harlem. They started out as the Savoy Big Five, and all the players came from the south side of Chicago. They didn't adopt the name "Harlem Globetrotters" until 1929.
I wonder how McVey would've fared against the best of his era, from my knowledge his best win was over Allentown Joe Gans, a great win no less, but still.
He drew with former welterweight champion Pete Latzo and Dave Shade when they were still at the top of their forms. Shade arguably deserved to win the welterweight title twice, earning a controversial draw with Jack Britton in 1921 and dropping a disputed decision to Mickey Walker in 1925. And McVey defeated a lot of contenders of his era, including NBA light-heavyweight title claimant George Nichols, Lou Scozza, Phil Kaplan, Young Terry, Abie Bain, Henry Firpo, Tiger Thomas, Joe Roche, and Wesley Ketchel, among others. I wouldn't be surprised if some of his decision- and disqualification- losses might have been disputed. Whether he deserved a title shot can only be determined by someone ambitious enough to go back and establish the historical context of his wins, losses, and disputed outcomes. He looks pretty good in the 1926 film of his fight against Sailor Friedman in a preliminary to the Berlennbach-Stribling light-heavyweight title bout.
Given that he suffered none of his 6 stoppages against quality opposition during his priime years between 1923 and 1932, I imagine he would have given a good account of himself. It's a matter of complete speculation. Your answer is as valid as mine.
